Going Home Slowly #33
by KaitlynRose
Summary: Nathan decides that it's best to take the scenic route home.


I don't own seaQuest or any of its characters. I am not profiting form this story, it is for   
entertainment purposes only.   
  
  
  
Going Home Slowly   
By: Kaitlyn Rose   
  
  
Lucas ran up the stairs but the top of them always seemed just out of reach. He ran and he ran   
until he found his legs growing so tired that he could barely hold himself up on them. A hand clasped   
around his ankle and began to pull him back.   
  
"I'm going to break your legs," Dr. Price said. Lucas watched in horror as he lifted up a small   
medical circular saw and flicked it on. The blade began to spin making a sound worse that the dentist's   
drill. "And I'm going to steal your brain."   
  
"NOOO! HELP ME! DAD! DAD!"   
  
Lucas fought and screamed as Dr. Price pulled and grabbed at him and pinned his arms to his   
sides. He cried and begged for him to let him go. The fear Lucas felt made him incredibly strong as he   
continued to resist. Suddenly he realized that it was no longer Dr. Price that he heard talking to him   
anymore. It took a moment for his terrorized mind to recognize the voice of his Dad talking to him,   
begging him to wake up.   
  
Lucas stopped struggling and slowly opened his eyes. He found himself looking at his Dad. The   
man looked awful. He had two black eyes to match his swollen black and blue nose, but to Lucas the man   
was a sight for sore eyes.   
  
Nathan sat back on the bed and pulled Lucas up to his chest and held the boy tight as his body   
shook with fear. He spoke comforting words to the boy over and over until he finally had himself under   
some kind of control, but still Nathan held on to him to reassure him that everything was okay.   
  
"I'm sorry," Lucas finally whispered.   
  
"Son, there's nothing to be sorry for," Nathan consoled. The two stayed on the bed for another   
minute since Lucas didn't seem ready to leave the safety he felt with Nathan.   
  
"What time is it?" Lucas asked.   
  
"It's about one o' clock," Nathan told him.   
  
Lucas looked around their cabin. "Where's Mom?"   
  
"She's at the spa. She said she wanted to get a haircut. She also suggested that you might want to   
consider getting one since the wedding is coming up soon."   
  
"The wedding is in two months. I'll get it cut then," Lucas replied.   
  
Nathan grinned. He had expected as much. "Would you like something to drink?"   
  
"Yeah, but I can get it," Lucas said. He pulled away from Dad and walked over to the small fridge   
and pulled out a can of soda. Then he walked out on to their private deck and had a seat in one of the plush   
deck chairs. The warm Mediterranean breeze blowing off of the water helped to chase away the last of his   
nightmare.   
  
Nathan grabbed his own soda and went to have a seat with Lucas. He sat down in the chair next to   
his.   
  
"I'm glad we did this instead of going straight back to seaQuest," Nathan said.   
  
"This is nice," Lucas said. "I know Ben's having the time of his life, crutches and all."   
  
"What does that mean?" Nathan asked.   
  
"He's using the crutches to get sympathy from the ladies on the ship."   
  
Nathan laughed. "That sounds like Ben."   
  
"Yeah, but he'd never actually do anything with them. He's still in love with Katie. She was the   
reason that he was going to leave seaQuest."   
  
"I know, I figured as much," Nathan said lifting his feet up on to the railing.   
  
Since they had still had another week before they were officially supposed to report back to   
seaQuest he decided to book them on the Sea Goddess and cruise the Mediterranean sea for a week. He   
figured the time would let them all recover from their aches and pains, along with all the stress they were   
feeling.   
  
It had been three days since the incidents that took place in Romania, but they were all still just a   
little bit jumpy, and for once Lucas wasn't the only one having nightmares. In the past three days all of   
them had suffered from at least one nightmare.   
  
He himself had had two already. The first had been of Lucas strapped to that table, only in his   
dream he hadn't been able to get to him in time to stop Price from sawing into his head. In the second one   
he dreamed of Kristin being attacked by Herman. He had woken from both in cold sweats.   
  
He looked at Lucas and saw that the boy was a million miles away.   
  
"Penny for your thoughts," Nathan said.   
  
"I'm not sure my thoughts are worth a penny," Lucas said with a grin.   
  
"Fine, then just tell me what's on your mind for free," Nathan told him.   
  
"I've been wondering who he was," Lucas said.   
  
"I don't follow," Nathan said.   
  
"Herman. He had a human brain in him. Who was he? I mean, was he a homeless man, was he   
Dr. Price's butler, did he die of natural causes or did Dr. Price murder him? Does he have a family out   
there somewhere?"   
  
"We'll probably never know who he was, and maybe that's for the best," Nathan told him.   
  
"Sometimes I'm actually sickened by my own thoughts. I mean, Dr. Price was insane by any   
definition of the word, but then I'll find myself thinking about how incredible his invention was. I mean,   
he made the first cyborg, and my program was actually sentient in it. Then I have to remind myself that   
there was noting incredible about the whole thing, that…that I almost got all of us killed, and for what? To   
go down in history as the creator of Artificial Intelligence."   
  
"Lucas, you're punishing yourself and you don't have to. You didn't do anything wrong kiddo.   
You wrote a program that technically didn't work. It may appear that your program was sentient in the   
cyborg's but honestly, it wasn't. The human brain was the sentient working piece of that puzzle."   
  
"I know you're right, but I think it would have only have been a matter of time before I had   
succeeded in making it work on it's own. I mean, I can't know for sure, but I have this way of not giving   
up until I actually do what it is I want to do," Lucas said.   
  
"Still, you weren't looking to create what Dr. Price created. What that man did never even crossed   
your mind."   
  
"True, but after what happened, I think Ben is right. He said that Terminator showed us that   
computers weren't meant to think on their own. That it would only be a matter of time before they realized   
that they didn't need us. I laughed at him when he said it, but now it seems to be the most logical thing   
I've ever heard."   
  
"I don't know if I would totally agree with that idea, but I do think it's something that needs to be   
done with caution. AI could be a great achievement for mankind, or it could be a disaster," Nathan said.   
  
"Well, I'm through with it," Lucas said. "Professor Martinson is fine just the way he is. I think   
it's time I found something different to try now."   
  
"I agree that you should find something different to work on for a while, let some time pass, but I   
wouldn't give up on your idea all together. AI is going to happen one day, whether you do it or someone   
else. Personally I would rather see someone like you create it. At least that way I know that a person who   
values life and ethics will be behind it's creation."   
  
Lucas looked at him, surprised and a little embarrassed about the compliment Nathan had just paid   
him. He seemed to think over the man's words before finally replying, "Fine, I won't give up on it."   
  
Nathan patted the boy on the leg. "Good."   
  
They went back to looking out at the water. It was the bluest water Lucas had ever seen. It was so   
clear and vibrant that it almost looked unreal.   
  
"I would love to go diving," Lucas said. "The water here is just incredible. I asked Mom   
yesterday but she said no."   
  
"I think your okay to go today," Nathan said.   
  
"Really?" Lucas exclaimed.   
  
"Really. Your ribs don't seem to be bothering you anymore, and you haven't had a headache for   
two days now, right?"   
  
"Right," Lucas said.   
  
"Then it should be okay for us to go diving," Nathan said.   
  
"Do you think you can fit goggles over that nose of yours?" Lucas teased. "It's still kinda big."   
  
"Smart ass," Nathan laughed. "At least it'll be back to normal size in time for the wedding. I'm   
sure Kristin would have just loved that. Me with two black eyes and a busted nose in the wedding   
pictures."   
  
"I heard you tell Mom that this wasn't your fist broken nose. How did you break it before?"   
  
"That's a story that dies with me," Nathan said.   
  
"Awe come on, you have to tell me now," Lucas said.   
  
"Not a chance," Nathan laughed.   
  
"No fair, you know everything about me," Lucas complained.   
  
"Oh, I highly doubt that. I have a feeling there are a bunch of secrets that you still keep locked in   
that head of yours."   
  
"Well, you know all the really big stuff," Lucas said.   
  
Nathan looked at his son. Yeah, he suspected now that he probably did know the really big stuff.   
  
"I was twenty years old," Nathan said. "I was young, arrogant, and cocky. That year I met Bill at   
the academy and we were two of a kind. We were also both very, very, stubborn. Never put two very   
stubborn men together in a biker bar with newly cashed paychecks," Nathan laughed.   
  
Lucas listened to the story laughing hysterically as his Dad told him how the two men had gotten   
drunk and started a barroom brawl with several bikers. The story ended with Dad spending the night in the   
ER getting his broken nose fixed.   
  
By the time the story was over Lucas had laughed so much that his ribs were starting to hurt again.   
Nathan was also laughing as he recalled the memory. He found himself glad that he had shared it with   
Lucas, even if it had been one of his more embarrassing moments in life.   
  
Nathan finished his soda and put the empty can down on the deck table and went back to looking   
at the water.   
  
"It's too bad Darwin isn't here," Lucas said. "We could have gone out together."   
  
"Yeah, but we'll see him in a few days. We'll have to go out when we get back to seaQuest."   
  
"You'll probably think I'm crazy, but this has been a nice trip," Lucas said, "except for that whole   
almost getting killed part. I mean, it wasn't all bad. We saw Nana, went riding, the Orient Express was   
awesome, Ben decided not to leave, and now we're cruising the Mediterranean. All in all it was a pretty   
good trip."   
  
"Yeah, it was," Nathan agreed.   
  
"Do you ever wonder if we're cursed?" Lucas asked.   
  
"What do you mean?" Nathan asked. He knew what Lucas meant, but he had learned to use   
opportunities like this one to get Lucas to open up, share his feelings, since it wasn't something Lucas   
could do naturally.   
  
"Well, honestly, I wouldn't exactly say that we're the luckiest people on the earth, not to mention   
the fact that we seem to spend a lot of time trying not to get killed."   
  
"I don't think we're cursed, but I must say that my life hasn't been boring since I met you,"   
Nathan said with a smile.   
  
"I think I could say the same thing," Lucas replied. Then Lucas took a more serious tone of voice   
and asked, "Do you ever regret it?"   
  
"Regret what?"   
  
"Meeting me."   
  
Nathan was shocked to the core by what Lucas had just asked. "Lucas, how could you even ask   
such a thing? Meeting you and having you in my life is one of the best things that's ever happened to me,   
don't ever doubt that for a moment. Meeting you wasn't a curse, but a blessing."   
  
Lucas smiled. He wanted to say something, but he didn't know what. It wasn't easy for him to   
talk openly like this the way Dad could.   
  
"I feel the same way," Lucas said finally, looking out at the water as the words left his mouth.   
  
"What do you say we go find Mom and let her know that we're going to go diving?" Nathan   
asked.   
  
"That would be good," Lucas said. "Maybe she'll go with us."   
  
"I doubt it, she just got her hair done. My guess is she won't want to mess it up until she has the   
chance to show it off at dinner tonight," Nathan said.   
  
"How do you know?" Lucas asked.   
  
"I've spent more time with women than you have," Nathan laughed. "If there is one thing I've   
learned over they years, it's to always compliment them when they get their hair done and to never do   
anything to mess it up."   
  
Lucas laughed. "That sounds like another story I need to hear one day."   
  
"Yeah, I'll tell you that one tonight," Nathan said.


End file.
